Tagann Olc Dom
by Aeternus.Flamma
Summary: Just about two years after the events on Poveglia, Mai and Naru strive to recover from the terrors that still haunt them. Rather than running from the past trauma, Mai chose to move to the UK to continue chasing her dreams. However, it seems that no matter how far away she gets, some demons insist on following her. [Sequel to Ciao Poveglia] [Established MaixNaru]


Tagann Olc Dom

Aeternus Flamma

Summary: Just about two years after the events on Poveglia, Mai and Naru strive to recover from the terrors that still haunt them. Rather than running from the past trauma, Mai chose to move to the UK to continue chasing her dreams. However, it seems that no matter how far away she gets, some demons insist on following her. [Sequel to Ciao Poveglia]

000

"…I encourage you to thank the client for the opportunity and graciously decline their offer."

"—but the location is fantastic and her claims are—"

"— _equally_ fantastic. Yes, I am aware of Ms. Runwick's claims—"

"—and she asked _our group_ to come and personally investigate—"

Mai tapped the back of her pencil against her cheek and smirked a bit to herself. Stupid Erik. Did he think that what he was saying was _impressing_ Naru? If anything, it just proved how far out of the inner circle's Erik really was. Seriously, even Mai knew about Ms. Runwick, and she had only been involve with the UK paranormal community for about a year. Erik liked to brag about his many years of experience, but it was clear that no one took him seriously enough to get him access to any of the good hot spots.

"Mr. Muller," Naru finally said loudly, losing his patience with his student, "I will put this delicately. The activity that the estate's owner experiences tends to begin after she has taken her evening cocktail of vodka-Xanex. Yes, the estate is lovely, yes the estate is old, but there has never been any other activity reported there. Unfortunately, in this line of work, you will find that more often than not, the haunting someone experiences is in their mind and nowhere else. For every one place that truly has some paranormal experience, there are thousands of others that do _not_. You can spend your entire life looking for the proof or the experience you desire and never find it."

Erik shrank back a bit, his cheeks becoming a bit flushed as he realized why it was that the professional paranormal community avoided the Rudwick Estate and its current owner. "Wouldn't it—wouldn't it be better to check out every location possible then, in hopes of finding the one that will give us answers?"

"Yes, but it isn't practical to investigate _every_ location, is it? A man only has so many years on the earth and he shouldn't waste his time entertaining a drunk woman's delusions when he could be helping a family with a poltergeist." Naru's words were cool and clipped, but Mai could see that he was internally seething.

Naru did not like being a college professor—at least, not an undergraduate professor. He found that the students were annoying and disrespectful. Part of that was because he was twenty-one and the same age as many of his students. The University of Edinburgh had only recently started to offer the parapsychology courses for undergraduates, and their resident PhD professor, Naru's adoptive father—Martin, had expressed little interest in teaching the courses.

Though the University wasn't brave enough to push their luck with the renowned Dr. Martin Davis, they felt a bit more comfortable strong arming Dr. Oliver Davis into the job—especially after they offered Mai a partial scholarship to their new program.

And so, there Mai sat, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as she felt a slight chill in the air. She sighed and sat back, raising her hand.

"Dr. Davis," she called out, just as Erik started to open his mouth once again, "have you ever dealt with a poltergeist?"

Naru's eyes flicked over to her and then back to Erik, his jaw clenching in annoyance. He picked up on Mai's cue and side stepped to his podium, where he leaned forward and adjusted the sleeve of his black suit jacket.

"I have, though the type of poltergeist I refer to is _not_ the version often depicted in film. Most cases of poltergeist activity come from an adolescent or young teenager with psychic energy—energy which lays dormant until the individual faces intense emotional or adrenaline-spiking moments. One of the cases I took began as suspected haunting, but turned out to be a junior high student inadvertently manifesting her psychic abilities as a disruptive poltergeist. My team and I were able to bring her abilities to her attention, and all activity ceased. As far as I know, the young woman has had no further problems. In her case, I think it's possible that she simply outgrew her psychic abilities, as many with poltergeist manifestations often do. Now," Naru stood once again and grabbed a stack of papers from his desk. "You have all sufficiently managed to waste the rest of the class time and keep me from starting the next chapter. I am not pleased, and nor will you be, I suspect, when you receive your essay grades."

There was a collective groan from the class as he started calling names out. He had said on numerous occasions that he should have a teaching assistant to the menial tasks such as paper distribution for him, but the University refused to grant him one until the program had reached the master's degree level.

"Taniyama," Naru called out, prompting Mai to stand to retrieve her essay.

She didn't glance at her paper until she was seated again. It wasn't surprising to see that she received an eighty-four percent—which was likely on the higher end of the class's grading. Naru made it a point of grading her work with a particularly harsh eye, so she made it a point to make sure her work would stand up to his rigorous review.

Though the University had known that Mai applied with recommendation from their own Dr. Oliver Davis, the two of them had to make it a point to keep their relationship to themselves. The University surely had their suspicions, which was likely why they offered the scholarship to her in the first place to make Naru sign on for the undergraduate staff, they had enough faith in Naru's professionalism to allow Mai to be in Naru's class.

Mai believed that the University staff, who were all very familiar with Naru and his callousness, didn't think that the two of them would stay together long enough for it to become an issue.

Alas, she had up and moved to the UK upon her acceptance almost a year and a half earlier. She had only been at the University for one term because of the way her graduation lined up with their start date, but Naru had insisted that she get acclimated to her new home for a few months so that she could improve her English before the term began.

Ayako and Monk had tried to convince her not to do it—they wanted her to stay in Japan with them and to continue on as things had always been. However, Mai just couldn't do it. Even after everything that had happened at Poveglia, she hadn't given up on her desire to study in parapsychology.

So she stayed long enough to be part of Monk and Ayako's rushed wedding. She wore a somewhat scandalous red dress as bridesmaid and enjoyed the party as much as she could while knowing that it was the last time she would see her friends for a while. She felt a bit guilty leaving, but Ayako had become the devil in her pregnancy, and Mai had her own problems to worry about if she wanted to get a start of her future. She could thus only with Ayako and Monk the best and hope the two of them could keep their arguing to a minimum to raise their daughter together.

Akane, their daughter, was born five months after the winter wedding, which was seven months after their nightmare at Poveglia. Because Ayako, of course, had the best prenatal care Japan had to offer, what with her family at all, both mother and baby made it through the pregnancy healthy.

Mai hadn't seen Monk since before the wedding. He was rather abruptly requested at the Vatican only a month after they had returned to Japan. He did call them to tell them that he had been reassigned and would no longer be stationed in Japan. He didn't say where he was going, but he did hope to come visit them whenever he had enough time.

Masako put her TV show on hiatus upon their return from Italy. She said her medium senses were simply overwhelmed, but Mai believed it was because Masako had never been so terrified in her life. Of course, Mai couldn't blame her one bit. She felt it was a smart choice, taking a break from the paranormal. She had heard word online that Masako was thinking of starting her show once more, now that they were nearing the two year mark of hiatus.

Yasuhara decided to give up on his ambitions of studying parapsychology. He was content to stay in Japan and major in finance. He admitted that after thinking he would die while studying the paranormal, all he really wanted was a normal life. His leg, as far as Mai understood, never fully healed. He still had burning sensations from time to time, and the skin would be permanently scarred. When Mai continued to stay with SPR, Yasuhara put distance between them. He made it very clear that for as long as she was involved with the paranormal, he would be her friend by proxy only.

In the end, it really only left Lin.

And Lin was still Lin. Out of everyone, he came away the most unchanged. Even Naru had changed a bit, finally deciding that he wanted to date Mai. For Lin, however, it was mostly like Poveglia hadn't happened. He and Madoka were still on and off again, dating for a few months at a time before there was some disastrous disagreement that caused them to separate. Mai sometimes wondered if Lin had actually found himself legitimately interested in Ash, the pyrokinetic that had sacrificed herself so that they could escape.

Mai thought about Ash often too. She even reached out to Ash's little sister, whom Ash had mentioned when they spoke briefly on Poveglia. Her sister, as it turned out, had barely known Ash—and no one had told her that Ash had died. She had awkwardly thanked Mai for letting her know, but…

It still caused Mai to become enraged when she thought about the conversation she had had over the phone with Ash's sister, Nina. _"To be honest, I hadn't seen my sister in over ten years. My parents warned me that she was into some pretty bad stuff and not to talk to her if she—"_

Mai hadn't even been able to let the girl finish before she exploded. She regretted yelling, in her broken English, at the American girl. But Ash had died because she was on Poveglia, and she wouldn't have been on Poveglia if Deittman hadn't been paying into a scholarship for Nina to go to college. Nina had been thoroughly surprised to hear that Ash had been the reason she could go to college at all, but Mai wasn't sure if it was because she was grateful or because the fact that Ash was dead implied that the money would be running out.

When all was said and done, the way things turned out hurt. However, at the same time, Mai felt that things had turned out mostly the best that they could. She and her friends had all faced incredible trauma. The things that they witnessed and experienced would never leave them. She still had nightmares—nightmares of seeing Desdemona's hanging body, watching Deittman fly out of the bell tower, trampling through Isabella's bloody hair as they fled for an escape…

Some of her friends chose to repress what they experienced and try to forget that it ever happened. She, on the other hand, would face her fears so that it could never happen _again._

"Are you waiting for an escort?"

Mai looked up from her thoughts to see that the classroom had cleared, and it was only she and Naru left. He was packing up his papers and placing them in his black briefcase. Mai smiled and shook her head. "No. Just hoping if I stared at the grade long enough, it would change to a ninety-five."

"You will never get above a ninety in my class and you know it," Naru practically snorted.

Mai shrugged and leaned back to stretch. "I can dream. Did you mother decide on dinner?"

Naru's eyes flicked over to the door to make sure it was shut. He never discussed their private life if anyone else was around, and it was fair that he did so. "Dinner in. My father has to entertain one of the SPR investors and may be a bit late. No point in dinner reservations."

Luella had insisted that they do bi-monthly dinners as a family, despite Naru's objections. He had tried to get out of them, but since Mai was completely okay going without him, he reluctantly went. He didn't like hearing about the conversations Mai had with his mother when he wasn't there. He preferred to mediate their discussions so that he could stop his mother from revealing anything undesirable from his childhood.

Luella had made Mai feel comfortable and wanted since the moment she arrived in the UK. Though Ayako had always thought of herself as a mother figure for Mai, Luella had embraced the role with vigor. Mai wondered if she was deep down trying to replace one lost child with a newly found one. Regardless, she accepted the woman like a family member and the two got along wonderfully.

Martin wasn't quite as warm with her, but it hadn't stopped him from giving her a job at the Society for Paranormal Research as an intern to help pay for her student housing. She hoped that eventually she could befriend him like she had done with Naru and Lin, but only time will tell.

"Alright," Mai said with a sigh and stood, packing up her own things. "I'll make sure I'm there by six."

"Fine. Oh, and Mai, this time we're staying for tea."

Mai waved him off and nodded. Tea. Somethings never changed.

000

 _Author's Notes: Heyyyyyy guyyysss!_

 _I know I know. Long time no see. I'm hoping I stay interested long enough to continue this. In reality, Ciao Poveglia would certainly be better on its own. However, I've been super motivated. Why you ask? Well, let me tell you…_

 _I'M GOING TO POVEGLIA._

 _YES. YES THAT IS RIGHT. I AM GOING TO THE ISLAND TO GO GHOST HUNTING WITH AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM EVEN THOUGH I WROTE A HORROR STORY ABOUT AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM GETTING BRUTALLY KILLED THERE. I AM CLEARLY SUPER SMART._

 _But really. I am super pumped. I've had some ideas floating around for a sequel for a while. I've started to take it seriously because, believe it or not, I am actually a *paid* paranormal investigator now. Crazy right? I work for a ghost hunting event company and get to go to interesting locations rather regularly now!_

 _Additionally, I have started writing a *prequel* to Cioa Poveglia. It is an original story with some familiar characters, but it takes place about five years prior to Ciao Poveglia and in the United States. I am hoping to finish it, get it cleaned up and edited, and self-publish on Amazon. We'll see how that goes, haha!_

 _Thank you all for reading! Please let me know of anything you would like to see in this story! I have some loose ideas of where this is going but I have some room to bring in other ideas!_

 _Ever Your Servant,_

 _A.F_


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